Monday, June 23, 2014

A Little Ice Cream History Lesson.....

Oh, the joys of the first few days of summer. The heat, humidity, air conditioners running all the time, and maybe a trip to the ice cream shop for a cool treat, so not all that bad. Ice cream, oh my, that oh so cool treat that we can keep eating and keep eating and not care how many calories we are consuming or how many pounds will be on the scale. And oh, the soooo many ways we can serve it. We have banana splits, sundaes, shakes, malts, cone, cup, cakes, or my fave right out of the old carton. And the flavors, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, swirls, banana, peanut butter, caramel, peach, raspberry, blueberry, and the list goes on. Here is a little time line of ice cream history:Ice cream has been around so long that it was a treat back as early as 54 A D. The emperors would send their slaves up into the snowy mountains and they would mix snow with the nectar of plants and they would consume like it was going out of style. Not the same flavor as we have today but it to them was the golden ray of sunshine during the hot months. Well, maybe not a ray of sunshine but you get my drift. It was said that in 1744 colonists who crossed into the new world brought their recipes over with them and would mix cream with new ingredients they had never encountered. 1843 the first ice cream churning system was patented by Nancy Johnson of Philadelphia. In 1850, Jacob Fussell, who was a dairyman out of Baltimore opened the first commercial ice cream factory. He began shipping by train and was later given the title of father of the wholesale ice cream industry.

Fast forward to the 1880's, soda fountains began to sell sundaes because ice cream sodas were not allowed to be sold on Sunday. Then September 22, 1903 the patent for the first ice cream cone was made. Grocery stores did not start selling this sweet treat until the 1930's. So you can imagine the sales that year. I cannot imagine a life without ice cream, but there was a time when it was not a common everyday thing to just have in the house. So, now that we have a bit of ice cream history, lets all run out to our closest ice cream shop and get us a sweet treat. Sweet eats my friends :)